The GTF Pegasus is an AlliedTerran-designed stealth fighter that made its first canon appearance in Proving Grounds. It was specifically designed for reconnaissance and stealth missions. To this effect, it has a high top speed and a small target profile, but pays for these with a very weak hull. It's statistically identical to its Vasudan equivalent, the GVF Ptah, but has a different target profile and visibility properties.

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Description:

The GTF Pegasus

FS2 Tech Room Description

The Pegasus is used almost exclusively for reconnaissance missions. It's the fastest, most maneuverable ship in the Terran arsenal. The craft's contours and hull materials were carefully designed to minimize its profile to detection sensors. It is woefully armored and packs only minimal weaponry, making it a death box in a firefight. Pegasus pilots are a special breed of daredevils who pride themselves on getting into and out of situations that would be the death of other pilots, all without firing a shot.

Developer Notes

None

Name origin

In Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse, and the son of Poseidon.
Pegasus is the winged horse who helped Bellerophon defeat the chimera.

Gallery

Veteran Comments

It has only one gun mount and a small secondary bank, but its advantages more than outweigh this. It's very maneuverable, so flying it is a dream, and it's invisible to radars. That means nobody can target you (unless there's enemy AWACS nearby), warheads immediately lose lock on you, while enemy fighters and cap ships' turrets can only shoot at you if they see you. But even this isn't easy because its color and shape make it hard to see at distances beyond 500 meters.

Quite a fighter, but it is rather disconcertingly fragile. The incredibly small profile helps counter this somewhat, as well as the stealth ability. In addition, the color scheme makes it difficult to see in space or in nebular environments, unlike the Ptah. It possesses superb maneuverability and a high speed, but has only one primary weapons bank and a small solitary secondary rack, meaning that it cannot accomplish anything beyond what you equip it for. In those few missions where you get to use it, try it out. But I'd say that other craft would do it more efficiently.

The Pegasus, while amazing for its small target profile, speed, and almost complete radar invisibility, isn't really that impressive against skilled pilots. When pitted up against a group of these for training, a decent pilot in a Herc2 can call a beat on at least one of these at a time, even hitting it with dumbfire missiles. Granted though, the maneuverability is great, and it is fun to fly, in almost all situations, something with more armor and weapons will probably fit the bill better.

When I first saw the tech description for the Pegasus, I got turned off completely. Who in their right mind would fly this? I held that point of view until I tried flying it for myself. Only then did I regret that the FreeSpace 2 team never made more missions involving this fighter. This has become one of my favorite fighters in the game because of its speed and agility. It may have a thin hull, small secondary bank and only two gun banks, but there are always enough Subachs and Tempests to pass around and the agility of this fighter is quite a boon to circumvent thin shields and hull. Indeed, this fighter also forced me to use these two weapons if I wanted to evade or speed up resupplying on the battlefield. Ever since, I've started using these weapons more efficiently and frequently than I did before I came across this plate of metal. My only word of warning is this: don't attempt to attack anything beyond bomber-class in this, otherwise you'll end up dead...like one of my wingmen who tried to take down a Deimos-class corvette in this.

It is also interesting to note that the Pegasus is actually sturdier than the GTF Ulysses, although its weaker shield system pretty much offsets this.

The Pegasus is one of those fighters that's only as good as the person behind the wheel. I once played a game against a pilot who used (and abused) the razor-thin profile of this thing and kept flying between my lasers. Very effective, but also very complicated to pull off. Unless you're packing a Morning Star, it's supremely irritating to take down. It also makes a decent interceptor, although with its rather flimsy hull and tiny secondary capacity, its longevity on the battlefield is questionable. One thing is absolutely certain, though - this thing is an absolute dream to fly. Not the most accessible of fighters, but if you put in the effort, you are rewarded.

I selected this vessel the first time I played Endgame on normal mode, and loaded the thing up fully with Tempests. The stealth feature worked like a charm. Not only did I survive, but I also managed to get around the NTC Loyola's flak turrets long enough to score the killing blow.

As with above, this thing is very, very fragile. If you somehow are in a close range dogfight, try not to ram anything; your hull will just zip right down to zero.